1991 Portuguese presidential election

The Portuguese presidential election of 1991 was held on 13 January.

1991 Portuguese presidential election
13 January 1991
Turnout62.2% 15.8 pp
 
Candidate Mário Soares Basílio Horta Carlos Carvalhas
Party PS CDS PCP
Popular vote 3,459,521 696,379 635,373
Percentage 70.4% 14.2% 12.9%
President before election

Soares
PS

 Elected President

Soares
PS

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Portugal
Portugal

The re-election of the hugely popular Mário Soares was never in doubt, specially after the then-ruling PSD, led by Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva announced its support. Therefore, the election held on 13 January 1991 was a landslide, and no second round was needed.

As the election of a left-wing candidate was assured, other left-wing parties, the Portuguese Communist Party and the People's Democratic Union, presented their own candidates. The communists presented Carlos Carvalhas, who had been Assistant General Secretary of the Party a year before (Álvaro Cunhal was the secretary-general). Carvalhas would later be elected secretary-general, in 1992.

On the right, as the Social Democratic Party supported Soares, the Democratic and Social Centre presented the only right-wing candidate, Basílio Horta.

Mário Soares achieved the majority of the votes in every district of the country, and 295 of the then 305 municipalities. His score was the biggest ever in a presidential election in Portugal.

Procedure

Any Portuguese citizen over 35 years old has the opportunity to run for president. In order to do so it is necessary to gather between 7500 and 15000 signatures and submit them to the Portuguese Constitutional Court.

According to the Portuguese Constitution, to be elected, a candidate needs a majority of votes. If no candidate gets this majority there will take place a second round between the two most voted candidates.

Candidates

Official candidates

Decided not to run

Campaign period

Party slogans
Candidate Original slogan English translation Refs
Mário Soares « Soares é fixe » "Soares is cool" [2]
Basílio Horta « Um Homem às direitas » "An upright man" [3]
Carlos Carvalhas « Portugal pode ser melhor » "Portugal can be better" [4]
Carlos Manuel Marques « A coragem de ser solidário » "The courage to be supportive" [5]

Candidates' debates
1991 Portuguese presidential election debates
Date Organisers Moderator(s)     P  Present    A  Absent invitee  N  Non-inviteee 
Soares Horta Carvalhas Marques Refs
21 Nov 1990 RTP1 Vicente Jorge Silva
Maria Elisa Domingues		 P A P P [6]
4 Dec 1990 RTP1 - N N P P [7]
6 Dec 1990 RTP1 Mário Crespo P P N N [8]
11 Dec 1990 RTP1 - P N P N [9]
13 Dec 1990 RTP1 - N P N P [10]
19 Dec 1990 RTP1 - P N N P [11]
20 Dec 1990 RTP1 - N P P N [12]
21 Dec 1990 RTP2 Joaquim Furtado P P P P [13]

Results

Summary of the 13 January 1991 Portuguesepresidentialelection results

 
Candidates Supporting parties First round
Votes %
Mário Soares Socialist Party (and tactically by the Social Democratic Party) 3,459,521 70.35
Basílio Horta Democratic and Social Centre 696,379 14.16
Carlos Carvalhas Portuguese Communist Party, Ecologist Party "The Greens" 635,373 12.92
Carlos Manuel Marques People's Democratic Union 126,581 2.57
Total valid 4,917,854 100.00
Blank ballots 112,877 2.21
Invalid ballots 68,037 1.33
Total (turnout 62.16%) 5,098,768
Source: Comissão Nacional de Eleições
Vote share 1st Round
Mário Soares
 
 70.35%
Basílio Horta
 
 14.16%
Carlos Carvalhas
 
 12.92%
Carlos Manuel Marques
 
 2.57%
Blank/Invalid
 
 3.54%

Maps
  • Strongest candidate by electoral district.
  • Strongest candidate by municipality.

References
  1. "Lucas Pires anuncia desistência da candidatura à Presidência". RTP (in Portuguese). 7 September 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. "Os cartazes das eleições presidenciais desde 1976". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. "Candidatura de Carlos Marques à Presidência da República". RTP (in Portuguese). 6 May 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  6. "Debate entre os candidatos à Presidência da República". RTP (in Portuguese). 21 November 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  7. http://acomarcadearganil.cm-arganil.pt/#9604/9
  8. http://comunicar-politica.blogs.sapo.pt/7538.html
  9. http://acomarcadearganil.cm-arganil.pt/#9604/9
  10. http://acomarcadearganil.cm-arganil.pt/#9604/9
  11. http://acomarcadearganil.cm-arganil.pt/#9604/9
  12. http://acomarcadearganil.cm-arganil.pt/#9604/9
  13. http://acomarcadearganil.cm-arganil.pt/#9614/11

See also
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.